Annika Malacinski Protests Women’s Exclusion from Winter Olympics Event as She Watches Her Brother Compete

NEED TO KNOW

• Team USA’s Niklas Malacinski competed during the Nordic Combined skiing event at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Tuesday, Feb. 17

• There, his sister, fellow Nordic Combined skier Annika Malacinski, supported him — while protesting the event

• Annika is shedding light on the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to hold a women’s competition for the sport

Annika Malacinski is continuing to protest against the Winter Olympics.

U.S. skier Annika cheered on her brother Niklas Malacinski as one of Team USA’s Nordic Combined skiers.

The sport combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing. However, only men can participate at the Olympic level, even though women compete in the sport on other international stages like the World Cup.

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While Niklas, 22, made his debut at the Tuesday, Feb. 17 Milan Cortina Olympics event, fellow Nordic Combined skier Annika, 24, was only able to attend as a spectator. There, she protested the organization’s lack of inclusion and held signs reading “No Exception” and “Make Olympics Gender Equal.”

She called the exclusion “heartbreaking” in an interview with the Associated Press published Tuesday.

“I want to come here with such a positive mindset, and I am a positive person,” she continued, “but at the same time it is so unjust that I can ski jump and I can ski but because I’m a woman …”

“My brother is here fulfilling his dreams and I am not,” Annika said of her brother who earned 13th place. “It’s so bittersweet and I keep talking about that. It lights a fire in me because this is so unjust and in 2030 it’s not going to be like this.”

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Annika expressed that she still hopes to compete at the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps. “Women deserve to be there,” she said.

However, Nordic Combined may not be present at all during the 2030 Olympic Games as it’s at risk of being cut due to a lack of viewership, AP reported.

Niklas shared a similar sentiment to Annika, telling the outlet that the siblings had “childhood dreams of being on an Olympic podium together.”

“But I am optimistic for 2030,” he continued. “I’ve been very impressed with … how much traction it’s getting online.”

Annika told PEOPLE last month that the sport wasn’t “available” to girls, and they “weren’t really encouraged to try Nordic Combined.”

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“But I just wanted to see if I could do it,” she added. “Once I did, I fell in love with the challenge; it felt like the ultimate test of athleticism.”

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“The biggest challenge is being told ‘no’ or ‘not yet’ over and over again,” she added. “We train just as hard as the men. We travel, spend our time and money, compete internationally at the highest level — but we still don’t have the same funding, resources or visibility.”

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She continued: “Sometimes it feels like we’re invisible in our own sport. Fewer competitions, less media coverage — it can be incredibly frustrating to give everything to a sport that doesn’t fully give back.”

“I realized that if people don’t know our story, nothing will change,” she told PEOPLE. “Seeing my videos go viral has been overwhelming in the best way. I never expected that many people to care, and it showed me how powerful storytelling can be.”

To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. Watch the Milan Cortina Olympics and Paralympics, beginning Feb. 6, on NBC and Peacock.

Read the original article on People